Sterling bank reports 17.2% increase in PAT

Sterling bank plc has announced 17.2 per cent in its unaudited financial year statement for the period ended December 31, 2019. The unaudited results to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed that the lender’s PAT closed 2019 at N10.8 billion as against N9.2 billion reported in 2018 financial year.

With a marginal increase in gross earnings and a significant increase in net interest income and fees & commission in the period under the review, the lender was able to drive profitability. 

The lender reported an increase in gross earnings were driven by growth in net fees & commissions by 24.3per cent, in spite of a steady loan base and (43.1per cent) decline in trading income.

Sterling bank reported 0.5 per cent increase in gross earnings to N149.5 billion in the unaudited financial year ended December 31, 2019 from N148.7 billion reported in 2018.

As net interest income gained 17.4 per cent to N64.9 billion in 2019 unaudited financial year from N55.3billion in 2018, fees & commissions income added 24.3 per cent to N14.6 billion in unaudited the financial year of 2019 as against N11.8billion reported in 2018 financial year.

The Chief Executive Officer, Sterling bank, Mr Abubakar Suleiman in a statement said,  “In the final quarter of 2019, our relentless commitment to improving education through micro banking was rewarded with ‘The Banker’s Award for Banking in the Community’ on the global stage by The Financial Times.

 “We were also ranked a top 3 bank in retail by Nigerian consumers in KPMG banking survey, a major accomplishment for a mid-size bank.

“Overall, the Bank delivered a 17.2per cent growth in profit after tax to N10.8 billion as of December 2019.”

However, the lender’s reported a decline of one per cent in loans & advances to the customer to N614.8billion in 2019 from N621 billion in 2018 while customer deposit grew by 17.4 per cent to N892.7billion in 2019 from N760.6billion reported in 2018.

It is, however, worthy of note that the increase in customers deposit contributed to Sterling bank’s total assets that gained 9.1 per cent to N1,203.6billion in the financial year ended December 31, 2019 as against N1,10.9billion reported in 2018.